1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to copying documents and in particular to duplex copying of originals. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to copying a specific page within an original to a front side of a duplex copy page.
2. Description of the Related Art
Duplex or double-sided copying of paper documents saves money and reduces paper waste, and is therefore mandated by many companies and government agencies, even for documents which are originally single-sided. In particular, single-sided to double-sided copying is frequently necessary for documents containing original content since most printers are only capable of single-sided printing. The original in such cases is therefore often single-sided, although the copy or copies should be double-sided.
However, single-sided to double-sided copying is complicated by the need to correlate pages. If multiple single-sided originals are loaded into a copier document feeder for double-sided copying and one of the originals contains an odd number of pages, the first page of document the odd-sized document will be copied onto the back of the last page of the odd-sized document, so that the copies cannot be separated. Additionally, single-sided original documents having multiple sections or chapters, where the user wants the first page of each chapter or section to be printed on the front side of a new page in a double-sided copy, will have the same problem where a chapter or section has an odd number of pages.
Duplex copying of double-sided originals is attended by similar problems. The user may wish copies of the original to be separated as specific breaks (such as chapter headings) so that each copied portion may be stapled and distributed separately. The first page of a desired separate copy section may be located on the back side of a duplex original, requiring that page of the original to be manually copied for both copy sections (the new copy section starting with the first page and the preceding copy section).
It would be desirable, therefore, to enable a copier creating a duplex copy from an original to recognize that a particular page must be copied to the front side of a copy page and to start each new document or document portion within the original(s) on a new page.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide improved copying of documents.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved duplex copying of original documents.
It is yet another object of the present invention to enable copying of a specific page within an original to a front side of a duplex copy page.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. Control over the output of duplex or double-sided copying is facilitated by indicator pages identifying an original page which should be copied to the front side of a new copy page, even if the back side of a previous copy page must be left blank in order to do so. Special separator pages containing detectable indicia such as a bar code may be inserted within single-side originals immediately prior to a page which should be printed on the front side of a duplex copy page to serve as the indicator page. Pages with unique, detectable content such as white space followed by large-print chapter or section headings may be employed as the indicator page, identifying the respective page as a page which should be printed on the from side of a new duplex copy page. Special dual-form separator pages containing different detectable indicia identifying either the front or back of a subsequent duplex original page may be employed to start each new chapter or section within a duplex original on a new page within the copy even if some chapters or sections within the original start on the back of a page. Indicator pages may also alter copy characteristics such as darkness and enlargement/reduction for the respective identified pages.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.